Karabekir Akkoyunlu

Karabekir Akkoyunlu is a visiting scholar at the International Relations Institute, University of São Paulo, and a research associate of the Centre for Southeast European Studies, University of Graz.

The defeat of the 'real' neo-Ottomanists

It was difficult to miss the irony of commentaries on the “triumph of neo-Ottomanism” on 24 July, when Erdoğan was crowned the second conqueror of Istanbul.

By Karabekir Akkoyunlu

/ 5 Aug 2020

The defeat of the 'real' neo-Ottomanists

Contending with authoritarian Turkey: a measured realist perspective

This obsession with personalities can fuel the very passions and tensions that such individuals feed on, and obscure the underlying factors that explain their rise in the first place.

By Karabekir Akkoyunlu

/ 29 May 2017

Carnage in Istanbul and the point of no return

Once the external anchor of Turkey’s democracy, the EU‘s normative influence has sunk as low as its reputation among its many erstwhile supporters, who now feel betrayed and abandoned.

By Karabekir Akkoyunlu

/ 1 Jul 2016

Carnage in Istanbul and the point of no return

Once the external anchor of Turkey’s democracy, the EU‘s normative influence has sunk as low as its reputation among its many erstwhile supporters, who now feel betrayed and abandoned.

By Karabekir Akkoyunlu

/ 1 Jul 2016

Old Turkish demons in new faces?

The ‘deep state’ meets Erdoğan’s ‘New Turkey’. The country’s resulting predicament is much more dangerous than two decades ago.

By Karabekir Akkoyunlu

/ 23 Oct 2015

From Athens to Kobane, winds fill Kurdish sails

Could Greece, through democratic elections, become for Turkey what Tunisia became for Egypt in 2011 through mass protests?

By Karabekir Akkoyunlu

/ 29 Jan 2015

From Athens to Kobane, winds fill Kurdish sails

Could Greece, through democratic elections, become for Turkey what Tunisia became for Egypt in 2011 through mass protests?

By Karabekir Akkoyunlu

/ 29 Jan 2015

Turkey at a suffocating intersection

The Violence Law can be seen as a site-specific implementation of intensifying methods to oversee the entire population: wholesale detentions and ex post facto indictments have emerged as the preferred method of intimidating, marginalising and criminalising dissenting groups en masse.

By Karabekir Akkoyunlu and Yağmur Nuhrat

/ 16 Oct 2013

Turkey’s protests: the limits of hubris

Turkey is in turmoil. Hundreds of thousands are protesting on the country’s main squares against a whole set of grievances. They are facing extreme police brutality. But the AKP dream of unfettered economic growth and mounting regional power within a neo-Ottoman sphere of influence is over.

By Kerem Oktem and Karabekir Akkoyunlu

/ 7 Jun 2013

Turkey, Syria and the dynamics of ‘cold war redux’

Syria’s neighbours, including Turkey, have the most to lose from an intensifying Syrian conflict, as they directly bear the brunt of it. Thus it is imperative that there is some sort of dialogue across the geopolitical divide. The EU is conspicuous in its absence.

By Karabekir Akkoyunlu

/ 17 Feb 2013

The Middle East on the brink: an urgent appeal for common sense

This is an appeal to the global citizenry to wake up to the dire situation unfolding before our eyes and to raise our voice. It is time to put concerted pressure on our respective governments, who are complicit in this cynical spectacle, and urge them to act responsibly for the benefit of all nati

By Karabekir Akkoyunlu

/ 12 Dec 2011